


she moves like beams of light

by sidleupandsmile



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Inappropriate Use of the Force, this is not meant to be taken hella seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 00:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6064723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidleupandsmile/pseuds/sidleupandsmile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They keep running into each other, and she keeps getting away.  It doesn't seem strange until later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	she moves like beams of light

The first time it happened was on Takodana. 

Her first major experience with the Force had been sort of painful, first the visions brought on by the lightsaber, and then later, when she’d met Kylo Ren, held in place by something she hadn’t understood, scared and lost, the sensation of evil at her back, lightsaber hot and flickering by her neck. But that press on her mind, falling unconscious, that part hadn’t hurt. 

Kylo Ren hadn’t actually hurt her, in her captivity, and the escape had, in all honesty, been rather simple. She’d been terrified, sure, but getting out and running into Finn, it had all been kind of easy. 

Perhaps it was callous of her to think of the events that had unfolded on Starkiller Base as simple, especially given that she still couldn’t think back on how her and Finn had watched events unfold on that bridge without a flicker of anger pinching at the back of her mind. But...it still had all happened rather smoothly. 

She was free, largely unhurt in her escape, and they’d made it back to D’Qar. 

A success.

~~~~~

The second time was Jakku. 

Rey had gone back to the planet on her own, leaving behind her worried friends, to retrieve what might be left of her meager possessions. Finn in particular had tried to convince her to let him come with her, not wanting her to be alone when she went back to that place she still struggled to let go of. But this was something she had to do on her own, and perhaps picking up the few things that were important to her would help. 

She found the AT-AT untouched, if perhaps a bit sandier than she’d left it. It didn’t take her too long to gather up her things and prepare to leave. She’d been about to head back to her rented speeder with the culmination of twelve years of living in the desert, a single filled bag, when she’d felt it. That flicker of the Force, of the Dark, that whisper of _him_. 

She would later throw the Force a sarcastic ‘thanks’, since the warning didn’t come until he was standing right outside, waiting for her. 

“Hello, Scavenger,” he said, voice modulated by his new helmet, same style as the old one that had been destroyed on Starkiller, but without the signs of age and wear. 

She didn’t even have the chance to ignite her saber, having gone still in shock, before she was falling to the ground from the pressure of his will on her mind, and although she didn’t know it, he caught her before she hit the sand. 

\---

When Rey woke up, she was in stun cuffs, hands behind her back, in what looked like a storage compartment. Ren was nowhere to be found, and it was almost painfully easy to escape the cuffs and get the door open. Her bag was even in the room with her, saber almost conveniently tucked inside. Given how he’d reacted to her wielding it on Starkiller Base, that surprised her. 

It didn’t feel like they were in hyperspace, but she could hear the thrum of the engines. If they were mid-flight, it would be harder, but she still had a chance to overpower him and get to the comms and call Chewie to come pick her up.

She was a bit shocked to find that they were still on the planet, and even more so that he didn’t come after her when she made a break for it. 

It was _all_ a bit strange really, but she hadn’t thought much of it. 

~~~~~

The third time was Takodana, _again_. They’d stopped there for a supply run and Chewie had successfully argued for checking in on Maz rather than landing at an unfamiliar station. They could use some familiar faces. Maz’s castle was still in disrepair, but there had been some good progress made in getting it back to its former glory. Maz had taken Chewie back to one of the back rooms, saying that she wanted to spend some time with her ‘boyfriend’, and Chewie had laughed as they’d walked away. Rey didn’t mind hanging around the main bar, watching people come and go, seeing so many new things, just sitting in silence. 

Rey almost hadn’t recognized him when she saw him. The height helped pick him out of the crowd, but he wasn’t dressed in his usual dark robes and metal mask, didn’t have that air about him like he could kill you with a look. He looked almost...normal, dark pants, light shirt, brown boots. It made him blend almost scarily into the background. He caught her eye and smirked before moving outside. He wanted her to follow, it was likely a trap, but she couldn’t -- she _wouldn’t_ \-- let him hurt anyone here. 

Ren led her on a bit of a chase through the forest, only catching glimpses of him here and there before finally finding him standing in a clearing, lightsaber ignited, waiting for her. 

“The hell do you think you’re playing at?” she spit at him, staring him down, annoyed by the amusement on his face. She’d scarred him, she could see the thick dark line that ran across the bridge of his nose and down his cheek now, but he didn’t seem to be letting it bother him. 

“Now, now, Scavenger,” he taunted, spinning his lightsaber idly, that crackling hum singing in the air. “Do you really want to start off on the wrong foot?”

“I do have a name, you know,” she replied, tone snarky to meet his, blue of her own lightsaber illuminating her face. 

“And what a lovely name it is,” he told her, and was he...he was laughing at her. He was actually laughing at her. 

Master Luke would likely be moderately disappointed in the slightly angry way she attacked him, not relying on the Forms she’d learned, but her emotions. 

Ren was stronger than her physically, beating her back until she was up against a tree, their sabers locked, sparking and hissing. Her eyes stared into his, teeth grit as she tried to push him back. Rey could feel him in her mind, pushing at her, trying to get her to sleep like he had twice before. He might be better at lightsaber combat, but her mind was stronger, and getting more so by the day. But she was still learning, and he eventually overpowered her, her knees giving out as the Force overtook her. 

\---

When she woke up, she was alone. Rey sat up quickly, breathing heavy, looking around the forest, for him, for signs that he’d touched her. She appeared to be unharmed, and feeling out with the Force, she only felt the beings at Maz’s castle, no one else. Her lightsaber was attached to her belt, like they hadn’t fought at all. If it wasn’t for the scorch marks on the trees, she’d believe that it had all just been a dream. Her brow furrowed as she looked around the forest, seeing familiar spots, old marks in the trees, scars from blaster fire. 

Rey refused to believe that it had almost been in the _same damn spot_ as before, but...it was. 

The Force was ridiculous if everything she’d done had led her here. Utterly ridiculous. 

~~~~~

The fourth time, well, the fourth time she didn’t want to talk about. 

It had been cold. 

It had been snowing. 

There was angry banter. 

He may have brought up her needing a proper teacher again. (How he thought he was going to win her over by insulting her understanding of Form IV, she would never know.)

She’d slipped on a damned bit of ice. 

He’d caught her before she could fall. He’d overpowered her mind _again_ with that Force damned trick.

She’d woken up in an interrogation room. She’d escaped, she’d stolen a shuttle. That was the end of that. 

No, she wasn’t. Going. To talk about it. 

What kind of Jedi slips on damned _ice_?!

~~~~~

It wasn’t until the fifth time that Rey began to notice a particular _trend_ in their continued meetings. They would find each other, they would fight, physically or verbally, he would render her unconscious with the Force, she’d wake up, she would escape, and the cycle would continue. Rey had finally begun to look back on these escapes with suspicion after General Organa had given her a strange look when she’d mentioned, yet again, that Ren hadn’t actually hurt her when she’d been restrained. 

Was he...he couldn’t be letting her go on _purpose_...could he?

He wasn’t hurting her. He was just...bantering with her, getting in a little combat, then picking her up and leaving her safe. He certainly didn’t do to her what he’d done to Poe Dameron. It was downright bizarre, but Rey found that she didn’t actively hate it.

It was...well, it was kind of nice, honestly. She loved her friends, but what she had going with Kylo Ren was two parts Adversarial and one part Necessity. She almost looked forward to their meetings. They provided a little excitement to her life, in the midst of training and learning the Force. 

No one ever said learning to be a Jedi would be so tedious. And Kylo Ren was anything but tedious.

\---

It was probably a horrible idea. Absolutely horrible. 

But...she wanted to test her theory. 

A good scavenger always tested their theories, because there could be a big score behind them, if they were right. 

~~~~~

The sixth time sealed the deal on that hypothesis. 

Rey had set off, leaving Chewie behind this time, and she waited. He always seemed to find her wherever she ended up, meeting with her on the battlefield or in forests or on ice they weren’t going to talk about. 

Drall was a nice enough place to spend some time on, and she only had to wait a few days before she felt him approaching. It was a little different this time, since she was trying to draw him here, but she still had to make it look like she had no idea, that she was fighting for her life. 

The battle was almost brutal, Rey pouring everything she had into it, pushing him back where she could, taking advantages she wouldn’t normally to extend the combat. She had to sell this. 

When he finally made the move, pushing at her mind with his own and with the Force, she put up a token struggle before letting herself drop. But this time she wasn’t unconscious. 

And he’d caught her. He had caught her like he was going to carry her over some imaginary threshold, holding her almost carefully to his chest. 

Rey didn’t actually know what to do with this information. It had been a horrible idea in the first place and now...now she was awake, letting him carry to her to what she thought was his ship, but she couldn’t exactly open her eyes and find out. 

He set her down carefully on a soft surface, the sound of his boots echoing a little bit as they moved across the room. There was a rustle of fabric and the sound of something being moved, but she didn’t dare shift, since it certainly hadn’t been the sounds of someone opening a door and leaving the room. 

“I know you’re awake, Scavenger,” he said from his seat across the room, his voice filling the silence. 

She kept still, kept her breathing even, playing pyjak for just a little longer, before she cracked open one eye, seeing him stare at her. “I still have a name.”

“And if I wanted to use it, I would.” He shifted in his seat, elbows on his knees, watching her. 

Rey sat up, eyes narrowing a bit as she saw her lightsaber attached to his belt, and she held herself in something sort of like a fighting stance, if one could do that while still sitting down. 

“So what’s your game? We’ve been fighting on how many different worlds, and they all end with me in your arms, and you all but letting me go.”

He blinked slowly, staring at her a little longer, and for a short period of time, she thought he wasn’t going to answer her, thought he was just going to let her stew over there. Either that or he would decide that she’d ruined the mood, and she’d have to fight her way out of there. 

Well, she might still have to fight her way out, but she didn’t have to wait much longer. 

“I find myself...drawn to you. The Force...it calls to me, and I answer. If I’d wanted you hurt, if I’d wanted you dead, you would be. This is what I wanted. I wanted you in my arms. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable while you slept,” he told her, and his eyes widened, like he hadn’t expected to answer so honestly, his breathing coming a little heavier. 

Rey didn’t know what to say, staring at him, not sure how to respond. That was...not what she’d been expecting. 

At all. 

Not one little bit. 

“I...well, I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t somewhat like it, too,” she ended up saying, because why the hell not. She’d landed herself in this situation, she was going to have to deal with it. 

He stood up, one hand curled into a fist at his side, staring at her. “So what do we do now?” he asked her, looking into her eyes. 

Force help her, she had no idea. 

But she wanted to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> For [cazzy](http://archiveofourown.org/users/cazzy)
> 
> title comes from 'space travel' by yellowcard
> 
> Prompt: Kylo realizes that he really likes touching Rey so whenever they meet/fight he keeps doing the Force knockout/bridal-style pick up technique, but Rey always escapes and is kind of confused as to why he never really hurts her. And then Rey starts faking unconsciousness because she likes it too and tbh he's too weak with the Force to really knock her out anymore anyway


End file.
